denatured alcohol??

[yelbegen]

hi all,

I saw in tutorials, sculptors use denatured alcohol..but i couldnt find it..I asked for it to pharmacys and harwares..pharmacists give me %70 pure alcohol, it contains glycerin..glycerin is not volatile..might be a stupid question,is it ok to use on super sculpey.

[Astounding]

Denatured alcohol should be available at hardware stores, in the paint department - by the other solvents such as lacquer thinner and mineral spirits. I buy mine at Home Depot and they always have it. I buy a gallon, but they may have a smaller size.

I'm not sure what rubbing alcohol (what the pharmacist gave you) will do to Super Sculpy. I use the denatured to clean parts and thin some paints. I would not substitute 70% rubbing alcohol because it won't work the same way - it's chemically different and the other 30% is water.

[JetFire76]

Hey Yelbegen,

I use denatured alcohol for my alcohol torch...which I use to work with wax and heating my tools.

I don't know how it works with polymer clay such as sculpey... but I believe alcohol is primarily used to clean and smooth clay surfaces as well as making providing a nice blend between the clay. If you can find 91% rubbing alcohol which should be carried by most drug stores, that should work perfectly fine on clays...that's the one I use.

Originally Posted by yelbegen

hi all,

I saw in tutorials, sculptors use denatured alcohol..but i couldnt find it..I asked for it to pharmacys and harwares..pharmacists give me %70 pure alcohol, it contains glycerin..glycerin is not volatile..might be a stupid question,is it ok to use on super sculpey.

[yelbegen]

thank you astounding and jetfire76,

i will use it to smooth clay surface.
as a result, 70% rubbing alcohol is not suitable.
i just remembered one of my friend is a chemist.i asked to her,hope she will find it for me.

[C. Bormann]

It's available at all paint and hardware stores. Use in a well ventilated area. We were using denatured alcohol to desolve the old varnish from oak moldings when my father touched an outlet with the steel wool and it arched. You could actually see the flames jumping through the air from one side of the room to the other over the vapor trail from the DA.

[Alaneye]

70% isopropanol, I believe, is also known as rubbing alcohol. I use 99% and 70% pure isopropanol with super sculpey. 99% is good for knocking back very rough areas, and 70% is good for smoothing areas that have detail, like skin texture, as it's not as harsh.

Al